Shattered Mirror
by Mii-Chan 24
Summary: We all have different choices to make. But how do we know which one's the right one? And when we make a mistake, what can we do to fix it?


**Shattered Mirror**

**By Amaya 24**

**A/N: This is what happens when my twisted imagination meets 'The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy' and Goosebumps. Oh well. What do I have to loose?**

**Disclaimer: Anything that seems familiar here is obviously not mine.**

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Just in case you didn't know, flying in a thunderstorm isn't the best idea. Not at all.

"Max!" Fang shouted over another boom of thunder. I looked at him, squinting through the gloom. "We gotta get down; if we keep this up, one of us---" We all flinched as another fork of lightning flashed overhead. I didn't have to hear the rest of his sentence to know what he meant; sooner or later one of us would turn into avian popcorn. (Picture the third rail in New York times ten, if you still don't get it.)

I nodded at him and angled my wings down, beckoning for the rest of the Flock to follow. Nudge shrieked as a loud boom of thunder filled the sky, unbearably close.

"Let's go, guys!" I shouted, helping Angel; the poor kid was so light, she was being blown away.

We struggled to get down into a forest-y area we were flying above. We were six cold, wet mutant hybrids and a talking dog and we need a place to stay for the night. It was too wet for a fire to catch in the forest, as we soon found out.

"Max? I'm cold." Gazzy whimpered, sneezing. I patted his head.

"Come on, guys. Maybe we'll get lucky and find someplace dry to stay in." I said, shivering slightly. I watched as the kids walked ahead, single-file, when I felt something drape over me. I looked up and saw Fang wearing nothing but a short-sleeved shirt. The idiot had given me his jacket.

I gave him a look, which he promptly ignored, pushing me forward.

"Let's go," He murmured, his black shirt getting soaked. I sighed, trudging behind him.

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"Well, I wasn't expecting this." I said, gazing up at the mansion. Well, I'm not expert at mansions, right? But this thing seemed to fit the bill. It was huge; a good four stories high and at least a football field length across. Like one of those old southern plantations, except: 1) we were nowhere near any plantations and 2) this place just had an air of loneliness. No one had been here in a while. There were shutters on the windows, but most of them looked like they hadn't been opened for a while. There seemed to have been a garden surrounding the mansion, once upon a time, but any flowers that had been there were rotted. Fang glanced around us, his eyes narrowed.

"There aren't any roads around here; even if they were old we'd have been able to see them." He told me, blowing his soggy bangs out of his face.

"Max, can we go in? I can't hear anyone in there," Angel said, giving me the full force of her Bambi eyes. I glared at the house. It seemed too fishy to me, but...

"Make up your mind, Max. It's not like we're getting any dryer standing here," Iggy said, half-shouting to be heard over a sudden burst of thunder. Okay... time for one of my infamous split-second decisions.

"Let's go in, guys. But keep your eyes open; it could still be a trap." I said. Cheers went up from the younger members of the flock as we rushed into the ominous looking building.

On the steps, I stopped, glancing up at the strange building. It looked like your typical haunted house, to me anyways. A small movement caught my eye, and I focused on one of the windows on the third floor. Was it just me, or did that curtain twitch?

"Max? You coming in, or are you _trying_ to get hypothermia?" Iggy called. Fang smirked at me from behind him. I shook the water from my bangs, rushing into the relative dryness of the musty mansion.

The inside of the house wasn't any better than the outside; dust covered almost everything, and the pieces of furniture were covered with white sheets. Cobwebs covered the corners and everything just felt _wrong_. Angel looked up at me, her eyes wide with fear.

"Max? This place is scary." She whimpered, hugging my legs. I patted her back.

"It's okay, sweetie. Nothing's gonna hurt you, okay? Besides, this place is just dirty; that's why it looks scary." I murmured reassuringly. Honestly, though, the place was giving me the willies. It wasn't like the School; we knew what kind of things went there, whether we liked it or not. Here, everything was... weird. We were in unknown territory here.

Fang pulled out his trusty laptop and began typing furiously, the screen's light giving his face a sickly color.

"Max?" He called out, a frown on his face. I walked up behind him, using his shoulder to brace me as I looked at the screen.

"What's up?" Iggy asked, wandering over to us. The rest of the kids cluttered around us, uneasy looks on their faces.

"I searched this area online," Fang explained, bringing up a map on the screen. It was all green; not a speck of brown anywhere. "There aren't any records of anyone settling here; the ground was too unfertile and the people nearby had some pretty weird superstitions about this place. None of them are true, right?" He said quickly. "But people just stay away. If someone did wander around here, it'd take rescue crews a while to get to them. The place has too many trees; if someone were in real trouble, they probably wouldn't get help in time."

"Well, thanks for making us feel better," Iggy muttered sarcastically, his face paler than usual. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I'm scared..." Nudge whispered, her eyes darting all over the place. I put my hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down.

"It's just because of the storm. I bet if we came here by day, no one would be scared of a few cobwebs," I said, trying to stay brave for the younger ones. Angel scooted closer to Gazzy anyways.

"If it makes you feel any better, we'll take a couple of flashlights and explore the other floors. To prove that there isn't anything bad here," Fang suggested. Personally, I'd rather rip off my feathers one by one than head upstairs, but hey! Gotta suck it up for the good of the team.

I dug through our backpacks and brought out two flashlights, making sure they worked, surprised at the fact that they lasted so long. I tossed one at Fang and turned to the rest of the Flock.

"Igs, you're in charge until we come back. If you hear anything go wrong up there, get out of here with everyone else. Head to Mom's house, 'kay? No heroes, Iggy." I warned. Iggy nodded, a solemn look on his face.

"Fang, take this floor and the second one; I'll take the last two, okay?" He nodded at me, his eyes dark.

"Be careful. Don't do anything stupid," He warned as I climbed the stairs leading to the second floor. I glared at him, stalking up the stairs in a huff.

"Stupid? Me? Please..." I whispered to myself, ignoring the second landing and barging into the third. Where, as I mentioned before, I could have _sworn_ I saw something move.

_But Angel said she didn't feel anyone..._ I told myself, flicking on the flashlight and shining it around. It was just like the first floor; dusty and covered in cobwebs. The stair railing was so covered with dust that when I ran my hand through it, I ended up with a giant dust bunny in my hand. Huh.

I blew the dust bunny away, shining the light up. Nothing there; just more spider webs. From what I could tell, the third floor had six rooms; three on the left, three on the right. I turned left, jingling the knob on the first door I got to.

Locked. Figures. I sighed, rolling my shoulders. Time for a little ole Max Ride muscle... I reared back, heck-bent on kicking the door off its hinges (or at least loosening it up somewhat.) Instead, I felt like I'd kicked a brick wall.

I cursed, limping crookedly as I looked at the door. Not to sound cocky or anything, but we bird-kids are pretty darn strong; a normal wooden door like this one should have folded like a deck of cards. Or at least cracked a little. But the stupid thing didn't even have a mark from my shoe.

I shuddered, feeling like I was being watched. I turned around on the off chance that Fang had followed me up, but the only thing behind me was a dirty wall.

"Okay Max. Calm down. You're just being overly paranoid," I whispered, the dust around me muffling the sound. I shivered again; if something went wrong up here, I'd be completely and utterly _screwed_.

I took a deep breath, trying to think of something else besides the creepiness of the house. _Happy thoughts, Max. Happy thoughts..._

I jumped as a loud crack filled the air, scaring me stiff. "Okay Max. Ignore this floor; j--just go up to the fourth floor and check that one out. Y-you can come back later." I stuttered, just for the sake of hearing something in the unending silence of the house.

I felt a chill run up my back as I ran up the stairs to the fourth floor. The fourth floor seemed like an attic; full of covered furniture and dusty boxes. I dug through a couple, finding nothing but metal boxes. I even found a couple of weapons; not the antique kind-- rocket launcher kind of weapons. I steered clear of those. What's wrong with this place?

After making sure no one was hiding out to kill us in the fourth floor, I slowly climbed back down the stairs, hoping against hope that maybe Fang grew a sudden sense of chivalry and checked the third floor for me.

Just my luck though; the only footprints on the third floor landing were mine. I sighed, turning right this time. The other doors opened all right, but there wasn't really anything in them-- a couple of covered pieces of furniture, three beds completely covered in dust, nothing important.

I sighed, turning towards the stairs, when I stopped, glaring at the first door I tried. _Max, what makes you think that the door's gonna open now? If it didn't open then, it sure as heck won't open now_! My conscience told me. I, of course, ignored it, facing the door.

I reared back again, but stopped, trying the handle again on a whim. Miracle of miracles, the stupid thing opened without a creak. I peeked into the room, keeping a fighting stance in case, you know, something attacked me. The door _was_ closed; I was sure of it. The thing didn't open on its own, meaning someone or something opened it while I was gone.

The room, weirdly enough, was pretty clean. Not much dust covering it. This room, unlike all others, was completely empty. And the place was pretty big, too.

I walked into the room, all of my senses on high alert. I looked left, and saw a... mirror? The glass was shattered in two big pieces, with tons of other little cracks running along it. I squinted at it, wiping the grime off of it with my sleeve.

I yelped, jumping back as I saw... myself in the mirror. I chuckled quietly, my heart pounding hard.

"What's the matter? Scared of your own reflection?"

"Gods, I'm such a loser." I chuckled again, then froze, swiveling around quickly. Behind me was...

I sighed wearily. "Just another stupid mirror." I groaned, glaring at my reflection. But... wait...

"Maxi? You all right?" My 'reflection' asked. I jumped again, holding my fists up.

"Max II?" I asked wearily. The reflection chuckled.

"Don't think so, sweetie." It said. I glared at her. It _looked_ like me, but it wasn't a mirror, and it wasn't really me, but it wasn't Max II... so what the heck was it?

"Not an 'it', Maxi. I'm you." She said. I laughed at that one.

"So this is the kind of crap Itex's been cooking since we blew them up?" I sneered. She smiled sadly at me.

"Itex... It's weird; I almost forgot how much I hated them..." She mused. I blinked at her.

"Yeah... Itex, the big, evil, megalomaniacs hell-bent on destroying half the world's population? Somehow I can't really picture forgetting how much I hate them. Especially since they... I dunno... _put wings on me_?!" I spat, glaring at her. I didn't really care if she _was me_; I was getting ready to beat the living crap outta her.

She smiled at me with that same sad, pitying look on her face. "Trust me, Maxi. When the time comes, you'll realize Itex is only a pawn. There's something bigger out there, and it's coming for you." I smirked at her.

"And how would you know this, me? Do I suddenly develop fortune telling in some freak accident? Or do I somehow fall into a vat of radioactive goo and develop really cool super powers?" She frowned at me.

"I guess you can say I'm you, but I'm not. There's more to the world that what you can see, Maxi." She said cryptically. "The only easy way I could explain this is by saying that I'm you, but in a parallel world." I chuckled, making her frown more.

"It's true. There's more than one world out there, just like there's more than one you-- more than one of us-- in each world. There's more than one Fang, too. And Iggy. And... Angel." She sighed. I looked at her.

"So let's say I do believe you. What do you want?" I demanded. Her eyes lit up.

"Nothing really. Just to... help you out some."

"And how do you plan to do that?" I snarled. She smiled at me, stepping out of her.. frame? I took a second to see what I was looking at. I was right the first time, sort of. She _was_ in a mirror, but the back of hers was black; empty.

"Just come in, Maxi. That is, if you have the guts." I growled at her teasing tone, stalking towards the mirror-- damn the consequences.

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I stumbled out of the frame, clutching my stomach and breathing hard. "Back so soon, Maxi?"

I was breathing too hard to come up with a good reply; there were too many images running through my head.

"...What was that?!" I demanded, wheezing. Mirror Max looked at me, her eyes blank.

"Whatever do you mean?" She asked in an innocent tone. I glared at her. "Oh, you mean _that_? That, my friend, is what _your_ world will end up like if things don't start shaping up. It's all about the decisions that you make."

"B-but... that's... _that wasn't a world!! That was hell! That was the very meaning of hell!_" I spat. She smirked at me.

"That _hell_ is my world, thank you very much." She sniffed. I couldn't breathe... I felt like breaking down right there. Mirror Max seemed to realize what I was thinking.

"Look, Maxi. I didn't do this to scare you. I did this so that you don't do the same mistakes I did." She said quietly. I nodded, reeling.

"Don't forget, Max!" Mirror Max shouted as I stumbled out the door and down the stairs. _Oh, believe me. I won't._

I made it to the first floor landing, out of breath and terrified. Fang looked up, his eyes worried.

"You okay?" He whispered, propping me up. I nodded, breathing hard.

"Don't go up to the third floor," I whispered. I knew I wouldn't be going up there any time soon.

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**Ookay... Sorry about that... I just, got bored, I guess. Oh well. Tell me what you think, yeah? Lates, ya'll!!**


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